I just purchased a 1980 HJ45 Troopy here in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, I relied on some friends to do the prepurchase inspection so I'm now saddled with a vehicle that looks really good from a distance but suffers all the typical band aid fixes that are so common on Central American vehicles. I'm still trying to assess exactly what I've gotten myself into. It seems to run quite well but the steering is a bit sloppy. A lot of the electrical will need work. There are some obvious leaks that will need to be fixed. I've been studying the FSM for the truck as well as the H engine manual (Thanks Trollhole) to try and understand how things should be.
I'm hoping that mud members may be able to answer some questions that a I can't answer from the manuals:
The truck did not come with a spare tire or an obvious place where it should mount. There appears to be a place under the rear between the frame rails that could accept a tire but there is no sign of a tire winch ever being there. Also, there is no indication of a tire mount on the rear ambulance doors.
The exhaust is routed outside and alongside the left frame rail but then ducks under the frame rail before connecting to the muffler. It is clear that the pipe mount at the location where the pipe goes under the frame rail was a booty fab job. It looks to me that the pipe should have passed over the frame rail right next to the fuel tank before connecting to the muffler. If anyone has a photo of the proper routing, I would appreciate it.
This truck came with a minimum of options: No heater or A/C, no windshield washer. no power steering. Someday, I may consider installing a combined A/C-heater from Vintage Air but a higher priority is to address the sloppy steering. My guess is that the standard steering arrangement, with all the tie rods and stuff is prone to slop. A quick check appears to indicate the slop is spread across all of the tie rod ends, the rag joint, the gear box and that thingy {whatever its called} that changes the direction from fore and aft to side to side. Rather than try to fix the existing system, I was wondering if I could just pull the whole power steering assembly from a "parts" FJ62 (steering knuckles on out) and splice it onto the HJ. I realize that the tie rods will need to be shortened, a mount for the steering gear fabricated, the steering column spiced to the gear box, and a mount fabricated for the PS pump and reservoir. That I can do but will the FJ62 steering knuckles fit the HJ45 front axle?
Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I'm hoping that mud members may be able to answer some questions that a I can't answer from the manuals:
The truck did not come with a spare tire or an obvious place where it should mount. There appears to be a place under the rear between the frame rails that could accept a tire but there is no sign of a tire winch ever being there. Also, there is no indication of a tire mount on the rear ambulance doors.
The exhaust is routed outside and alongside the left frame rail but then ducks under the frame rail before connecting to the muffler. It is clear that the pipe mount at the location where the pipe goes under the frame rail was a booty fab job. It looks to me that the pipe should have passed over the frame rail right next to the fuel tank before connecting to the muffler. If anyone has a photo of the proper routing, I would appreciate it.
This truck came with a minimum of options: No heater or A/C, no windshield washer. no power steering. Someday, I may consider installing a combined A/C-heater from Vintage Air but a higher priority is to address the sloppy steering. My guess is that the standard steering arrangement, with all the tie rods and stuff is prone to slop. A quick check appears to indicate the slop is spread across all of the tie rod ends, the rag joint, the gear box and that thingy {whatever its called} that changes the direction from fore and aft to side to side. Rather than try to fix the existing system, I was wondering if I could just pull the whole power steering assembly from a "parts" FJ62 (steering knuckles on out) and splice it onto the HJ. I realize that the tie rods will need to be shortened, a mount for the steering gear fabricated, the steering column spiced to the gear box, and a mount fabricated for the PS pump and reservoir. That I can do but will the FJ62 steering knuckles fit the HJ45 front axle?
Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.